What you are saying Trav is every game you installed has left behind a save folder somewhere under my docs? Ouch! I remove mine and place them in a folder on the hard drive away from that scramble. Put a text file in your previous save folder with the path written down so you know where to paste upon reinstall. It saves going nuts later when you reinstall the game It is good advice but I have never done that so I have to make a new save and search for it. Perhaps someday I will listen. That is why when I review a game I started listing the save folder path in the review.

Finding Saves can become quite a treasure hunt with heightened frustration. I cannot speak to the Sherlock game since I never played it. They are not always in the same place. Speaking of Win XP and Win7 you will not find them under documents every time. Why? because Windows placed documents folders in two places one in LIBRARIES and the other MY Documents on the C drive. It is in Documents and Settings where you find USER Name Folder often used to house saves.

This is simple for most people who grew up with computers for others it can seem confusing. The easiest way is to locate this the first time is to use Windows Explorer. Click START bottom left of desktop. Select ALL PROGRAMS then ACCESSORIES then WINDOWS EXPLORER. That will open up the page showing the tree where you have all folders listed on your PC.

Near the top about five folders down under LIBRARIES is DOCUMENTS. If you click on documents to expand it in the right panel you can see the folders and files inside the DOCUMENTS folder. You will notice USER NAME is not in there.

Presently I have the Secret Files 3 folder there. Expanding that folder I find the save games. Who knows what games use this spot it varies. For this game the path would be MY DOCUMENTS\SECRET FILES 3\Saved Games

The second location is found below the DOCUMENTS FOLDER. On the left panel expand the folder named COMPUTER Then LOCAL DISC C. It is inside that folder where you will find DOCUMENTS&SETTINGS Expand Documents and Settings inside that is a list of users. Look for the folder that is titled with your name or whatever name you are using for the computer. For instance the folders on my pc are listed as ALL USERS - APP DATA - DEFAULT - DEFAULT USER - PUBLIC- MY NAME. The last one (whatever your name is ) is the one you are looking for. Expand that one and you will find a long list of folders. There are thirty-five in mine. Usually but not always it is eventually discovered some where under APP DATA but not always. You see there is also an APPLICATION DATA file in there as well.

You can save a lot of grief by right clicking on the DOCUMENTS, USER NAME and WINDOWS EXPLORER folders and sending each to your desk top. Right click=send to=DESKTOP CREATE SHORTCUT.

That will get you to those locations a lot quicker directly from your desktop

As I said most often when you do not find them under my documents they are under one of the APP DATA folders in the user name category. They vary, here are a few examples.

NOTE of the bottom two above one was found in APP DATA the other in APPLICATION DATA. The second one in the list even though you found it under USER FILES it was in neither DATA file.

There are a few examples As with the last entry the save folder itself is not always named save in UKAM it is called games. Therefore a search for saves may not always find what you are looking for.

You notice they are not always under application data and can be either in MY Documents or Documents and Settings. This is the frustrating aspect. It can become quite a search

Because of that I decided to list the path in any game I write a review for going forward. The last for or five games I did that.

It can be very frustrating because there is no universal rule and digging inside that windows explorer tree can be frustrating. The good news is do this often enough and you get really familiar with your file structure. It is like learning how to drive a standard transmission car.

YES I know clear as mud. This is one of those things that is harder to explain than to do.

No, every game doesn't create a saves folder in My Documents, I wish every one did! They'd be a danged sight easier to find.

At the moment, though, I have 17 game saves folders in there, which is why I intend to create a master Saved Games folder in My Docs, pop them all in, then haul out one when I need it, i.e., when I'm replaying a game and can't figure out what the heck I did to get past something.

Considering I put just about everything in My Docs since it's so easy to find things there (via a desktop shortcut), add to that that I often refuse to let a game go where it wants to but put it in My Docs, and it can get to be kinda crowded in there. I have various folders like Games, Articles, Downloads that are full of subfolders so I don't know why it never occurred to me to make a master Saved Games folder.

Standard transmission? They still make those?

Gil.

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"Best not to think about it. I don't want to fall to bits 'cos of excess existential thought."

Standard Transmission? Yes they do. Generally you will get 40 miles to a gallon versus 34 with the same vehicle that has an automatic. My last one was a Honda Civic 98' 99' or so. Switched over to Auto because my better half's back problems made it hard for her to drive the standard. Otherwise I'd still be driving one.